I’m reading an interesting book called “How We Know What Isn’t So: The Fallibility of Human Reason In Everyday Life” and came across this:
And, as any student of psychology can tell you, there is the “Zeigarnik effect,” or the tendency for people to remember interrupted tasks better than those that have been completed.
I wonder if that’s why I find multi-tasking so invigorating? I can feel more connected and awake when I’m switching between several tasks rather than focusing on just one.
The quote has a reference to Zeigarnik’s 1967 work “A Source Book of Gestalt Psychology” and I may try to track down that section. Anyone (Mum? Paul?) know anything about Zeigarnik or this idea?
[December 22, 2003: This post has been noted by spammers and is getting repeated junk comments. I have closed commenting on it for that reason.]
MetaGrrrl 
Zeigarnik rings no bells in my late-night brain. But I’ll see if I can remember to research it in a relaxed gestalt kind of way tomorrow.
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Zeigarnik Effect! May be effective & possible in our mundane life.
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As a fellow-experiencer of the Zeigarnik Effect, I can tell you there are 2840 Google pages on Zeigarnik that will tell you more than you want to know . . .
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Cool!
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Many of you know about viagra:
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